"You arrived just in time."
Inside the hall, Yun Shu was directing the servants to lay out the final dishes upon the table. When she saw Yun Chuhuan burst in, his eyes gleaming with excitement, she raised a brow ever so slightly.
"The dishes are freshly made. This is when the flavor is at its peak. Will you try them?"
"Thank you, Fifth Sister! You truly are the best sister in the world!"
With a practiced flourish, Yun Chuhuan offered his flattery, then eagerly snatched up a pair of chopsticks. He reached first for what looked to be the most ordinary dish—spicy and sour shredded tudou.
"This one is…"
Yun Shu glanced at where his chopsticks landed. She had meant to warn him that it had just come out of the wok and might still be too hot. But before she could speak, he had already stuffed a whole mouthful into his mouth.
"Ah—hot, ha—"
Caught off guard by the heat, Yun Chuhuan flapped his mouth open, panting twice before hurriedly chewing and swallowing in a clumsy gulp.
"…Crisp! Not bad at all!"
Yun Shu sighed.
That was hardly necessary.
With a helpless shake of her head, Yun Shu gestured to the dishes lined up beside him: tudou braised with beef brisket, cumin-scented tudou with sliced meat, dry-fried shredded tudou, sizzling wok-fried tudou slices, and deep-fried tudou sticks.
"All of these were finished before the one you just ate. Try them."
"Mm! Mm!"
When it came to food, Yun Chuhuan hardly needed convincing. Aside from the initial scalding, his mouth barely stopped moving.
Even as he munched on one piece of dry-fried shredded tudou, his eyes had already shifted greedily to the cumin meat dish.
By the time the meal ended, the rice in his bowl remained nearly untouched, yet most of the dishes had found their way into his stomach.
Only when he was stuffed to the point of clutching his belly did he finally relent, though his gaze remained regretfully fixed on the few remaining strands of shredded tudou.
"Hic…"
Yun Shu silently pinched the space between her brows.
A fine young prince, reduced to this state—more like a starving vagabond than a child of the imperial household.
"Fifth Sister, you are my goddess!"
Unfazed by Yun Shu's speechless expression, Yun Chuhuan gave her a hearty thumbs-up, imitating the praise he had read in the latest issue of the Capital Weekly. Then, rubbing his swollen belly, he looked at her with curiosity.
"I have never tasted any of these dishes before. What are they made of?"
Yun Shu, having eaten her fill, rested her chin lazily on one hand and replied with little ceremony.
"The five potted flowers you gifted Me the other day."
"Flowers?"
Yun Chuhuan blinked, momentarily stunned.
"Did I just eat flowers?"
"Strictly speaking, no. You ate what grew beneath them, buried in the soil. I named it tudou."
Watching his expression shift from blank confusion, to realization, and then to barely restrained excitement, Yun Shu poured a bucket of cold water over him with practiced ease.
"However, after today, you likely will not be eating any more."
"What?!"
As expected, the moment he heard that this newfound delicacy might be lost to him, Yun Chuhuan panicked.
"Did Fifth Sister already use up the ones from your side? My Consort Mother still has five pots left!
They are not gone yet."
Yun Shu remained calm as she explained.
"But as of now, those are all we have in the entire palace. If we eat them all, there will be no seeds left. If you wish to taste them again next year, these must be preserved and planted. Only then can they be grown in abundance."
"That's easy to solve!"
Yun Chuhuan spoke without hesitation.
"I'll have the Liu family's merchant caravan sail out again. They can bring back more next year!"
"That won't work."
Yun Shu gave a slight shrug.
"I read in an old text that these kinds of tuber fruits are also their seeds. They do not store well. Once left too long, they begin to sprout. And once sprouted, what was once harmless may become toxic and inedible.
So asking the caravan to bring back already-grown ones next year won't be viable.
As for bringing back flowers like this year…"
She paused.
"Bringing a few is possible, but any more than that is unrealistic. Seawater cannot be used to water flowers, and one cannot raise so many plants on a merchant ship."
Yun Chuhuan looked as if he still wanted to argue the point, but Yun Shu added slowly, in a tone both casual and deliberate—
"And most importantly, these seeds will surely be claimed by Father Emperor."
"…Father Emperor?"
Yun Chuhuan froze.
"Father Emperor enjoys them too?"
"Whether Father Emperor enjoys the taste, I do not yet know," Yun Shu replied as she rose from her seat, "but he will undoubtedly see their value."
"Shall we go to the Imperial Kitchen?"
"What for?"
Yun Chuhuan was still sulking, unhappy that he had tudou within reach yet was forbidden to eat more. The mere mention of the kitchens reminded him of what he could no longer have. His mood turned foul.
"I am not going."
Stupid Imperial Father. Not only had he fined him silver, now he would not even let him enjoy a tudou feast!
"You are certain you do not wish to go?"
This bear of a child wore his heart on his sleeve. Yun Shu did not even need to ask to guess what he was thinking. She raised a brow with amusement.
"I have already had someone inform Father Emperor at the Imperial Study. His midday meal today… will be a tudou banquet."
"…?"
"What do you mean?"
Yun Chuhuan's ears twitched.
"Father Emperor's lunch today is also made of what we just ate?"
"More or less."
Yun Shu nodded.
"Fortunately, Father Emperor is a frugal man. His usual meals consist of only eight dishes and one soup. Were he to dine as emperors did in dynasties past, with forty-eight dishes per meal, I truly would not know how to create so many tudou-based recipes."
"…!"
So there were still three new tudou dishes that he had not yet tasted?
Yun Chuhuan jumped to his feet.
"The Imperial Kitchen? Let's go! Hic!"
—
From Fengyang Palace to the Imperial Kitchen, then overseeing the palace chefs as they followed Yun Shu's instructions to prepare eight dishes and one soup, and finally carrying all nine dishes to the Imperial Study—
After all that effort, Yun Chuhuan's previously bloated belly now seemed ready for another round.
He followed Yun Shu into the Imperial Study with great anticipation. Before Emperor Xuanwu could even speak, Yun Chuhuan rubbed his hands together eagerly.
"Father Emperor, let us dine!"
Emperor Xuanwu: "…"
When Yun Shu had sent word earlier, requesting permission to personally prepare his midday meal, he had already guessed that she was experimenting with new dishes again.
But he had not expected this—some little rascal shamelessly tagging along to freeload?
That brat!
These dishes were crafted especially by Xiao Wu for her Imperial Father. What business did this scoundrel have partaking in them?
With a face full of pettiness, Emperor Xuanwu narrowed his eyes and gave Yun Chuhuan a cold, sideways glance.
"What business have you here in Our Imperial Study?"